


I'm here

by magi06rose



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bonding Moments, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Post Season 3, can be taken platonic or romantic, ending choice, keith is TRYING, mentions of homesickness, quite more serious in chapter 2, slight insecure keith, slight insecure lance, slight langst, strong lance, up to the reader - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 04:24:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11751939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magi06rose/pseuds/magi06rose
Summary: Post season 3.Keith notices something wrong with Lance. As a new leader, he decides to try and talk it out.Comes with an optional ending choice. See notes for more.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First off- I LOVE. SEASON 3!!! JUST EVERYTHING!! I CAN'T WAIT FOR SEASON 4! 
> 
> Second - this is something similar to my personal character analysis of Lance and partially Keith. In Keith's part, if you feel like there's something Keith should explore more about Lance, then you can continue to Ending B in the next chapter after a certain point (more details in the end notes).
> 
> Third - as explained in the tags, that's up to YOU if it's shipped or a broOTP. I do like romantic Klance more, but I also do respect other people's choices. In the end I want this fanfic to be more open to the idea of how the klance relationship is interpreted, but if it doesn't seem like that then leave a suggestion in the comment section (as well as to anything else about this fanfic, but please no hate).
> 
> Thank you. Enjoy!

Shiro and Hunk casually talk as they watch Pidge working on their latest tech in the common area when Keith enters inside.

 

“Hey Keith. Wassup?” Hunk greets. Shiro and Pidge greet him as well, but Keith seemed bothered.

 

“Uh, hey…” He looks around the room. “Have any of you seen Lance?”

 

“Nope.” Hunk answers Have you tried his room?”

 

“He wasn’t there” Keith says, briefly shaking his head.

 

“Really, have you checked on Red and see if he was there?” Shiro asks.

 

“Yeah. No luck though.”

 

“Try Blue’s” Pidge nonchalantly suggests, focused on their work. “He might still be going there even after the switch.”

 

“Thanks.” Keith exits the room. Shiro and Hunk looks with slight curiosity at the spot Keith once stood in.

 

“Huh, wonder what got into him?” Hunk asks. “He barely looks for Lance for anything.”

 

“Who knows,” Shiro answers, “but I’m glad to see them getting along after I came back.”

 

“True. They’ve been taking things seriously lately, which is still weird to me… but they work well together when we’re fighting.”

 

Pidge looks away briefly to the door and then to Hunk and Shiro before shrugging their shoulders as they resume back to their schemes.

 

* * *

 

With long, quick strides, Keith makes it to the Blue Lion’s hangar, his eyes still searching for the new Red paladin. Instead, he sees in front of him Allura in her paladin uniform staring up on Blue.

 

“Allura” Keith calls out, gaining the princess’ attention as he walks to her.

 

“Oh, hello Keith. Did you need something?”

 

“Not really. I was just wondering if you’ve seen Lance anywhere. I can’t find him.”

 

“Sorry Keith. I’ve been here with Blue since lunch. He’s not in his room or the Red lion’s hangar?” Keith shakes his head. “I see… Wait. Let me get into contact with Coran.”

 

“Thanks Allura.”

 

Allura smiles at the black paladin before picking up her helmet left besides her. Using the helmet’s communicator, she waits for Coran to answer.

 

“Coran, are you there… No, it’s nothing serious. Can I ask you to use the castle’s cameras and pick up Lance’s location? …No, it’s just no one has seen him for a while… Keith’s looking for him... Yes… Yes… Maybe” Allura giggles, slightly picking Keith’s curiosity up. “…….Thank you Coran… There, really? Odd… Ok… Hold on, let me talk to him.”

 

“Well?”

 

“Apparently, according to Coran, Lance is in the shuttle bay area.”

 

“The shuttle bay… any reason why?”

 

“Nothing I can think of. Would you like Coran to call Lance for you?”

 

“Ah, no, I can just go to him myself. Thanks Allura. Tell Coran thanks as well.”

 

“Sure. See you at dinner.” Keith and Allura wave at each other before Keith leaves. Allura watches Keith’s figure disappear behind the doors and sighs to herself with a smile.

 

“They’ve come so far since we’ve met… Yeah… I’ll see you later as well.” Allura takes off her helmet when the Blue lion speaks to her in her mind. She was taken back for a moment before smiling to Blue.

 

“Yeah. I hope things go well for those two as well.”

 

* * *

 

Keith casually jogs his way to the shuttle bay, hoping to make it before Lance leaves the room while not exhausting himself. As he approaches the doors, he takes a deep breathe before entering inside and sees Lance standing in front one of the pods that he and Allura once took long ago. Before he could wonder why Lance was there, the red paladin already notices his entrance.

 

“Keith? What brings you here?” Lance asks. Keith shrugs his shoulders as he walks closer to him.

 

“Couldn’t find you. Allura had to ask Coran to find you with the castle’s cameras.”

 

“Oh, I see” Lance awkwardly says as he rubs the back of his neck. “Well, you found me. What do you need mullet head?”

 

Keith glares at him before making a big sigh. “Nothing. Just wanted to see if you were ok.”

 

“Me?” Lance points to himself.

 

“You seemed off this entire day and,” Keith looks away, not used to discussions like this, “well, I thought, if you wanted to talk to someone about it-”

 

“Ahhh,” Lance interrupts him, “You’re that worried about me dude?! You didn’t have to!” He vigorously wraps an arms around Keith’s shoulders and noggies his head, but Keith gets his head out and pushes him away.

 

“Shut up you bastard! Look I may not be the best at advice and stuff like that, but I just thought, as one of the team leaders, I should make sure everyone’s in their best shape. At least until we find out why Black isn’t accepting Shiro...”

 

“...Hey, man, don’t worry about it.” Lance consoles as he puts his hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Both of them probably still need some time to adjust to the situation. I mean, Shiro did just come back from who-knows-where, and we were kinda forced to change the team up to fill his absence in case… you know- We’ll figure something out.”

 

“Thanks” Keith sighs. “I appreciate it, but we’re not here to talk about me,” he says as he pushes Lance’s hand away, “Actually, why are you here? It’s kinda weird to find you here of all places, or anyone in that matter.”

 

“Unless they decide to figure out if they were the Galra’s tracking device?”

 

“Lance.”

 

“Right… sorry.” Lance looks away and stares at the pods, and Keith does the same, unsure of what to say next.

 

“I just wanted some time to think to myself” Lance starts. “Sometimes when I feel it’s too stuffy in my room, I go out and walk around the castle. Usually I end up in Blue’s hangar, but Allura was there, so-”

 

“I see… But why here? Why not see Red or go anywhere else?”

 

“...I don’t know if anyone asked you this since we decided to stay, but did you ever miss Earth? Miss anything there that reminds you of home?”

 

“Well.. no, not really. I never really knew my mom, and my did disappeared at some point in my life. Shiro was pretty much the only family I had until he disappeared, and before I knew it I was all by myself in that desert shack. You guys are the closest to a family I could ever have in my life.”

 

Lance wanted to say something, but couldn’t think of anything. Keith could see Lance was struggling as the red paladin looked away, but he didn’t mind it.

 

“I think I remember seeing you imagining your family when we first did that mind melding exercise.”

 

“Oh that. It’s been awhile since we’ve done those. Yeah, I was thinking of _mi familia_ back then.”

 

“You must have been close as one.”

 

“ _Si,_ and there wasn’t a day when I didn’t think of them” Lance said with a sad smile on his face.

 

“I understand now how important our mission is and why we have to do this, but the me then had no idea how to cope with this whatsoever. I was prepared to leave them when I went to the Garrison to be a famous space pilot like Shiro, but of course I didn’t expect being taken galaxies away to fight an evil empire with one mega lion weapon and with no way of contacting them at all. To tell you the truth… I was scared. Of everything.”

 

Keith turned his full attention at Lance, looking with worry as he watches Lance walk toward the pod before them, placing a hand on it. He didn’t think Lane would let himself open like this.

 

“Sometimes, rather than heading to Blue, I end up either here or the bridge. On the bridge, I’d open the holo-map, find our planet if I could, and reminisce my memories of everyone Varadero.”

 

“And here?” Keith asks. Lance kept silent for a moment, almost making Keith ask him again until he spoke.

 

“I.. I also, once thought, of stealing a pod, but not like you, Allura, or Pidge. I wanted to actually take all of my belongings and myself back to Earth.”

 

“Lance-”

 

“Yes yes, I know, it was a terrible idea. I’ll admit. I mean, if I had gone, I probably would have ended up like Shiro and be heavily examined for research and perhaps ‘alien cooties.’ But don’t worry, I stopped thinking about that since we stopped the castle invasion. Well, not entirely, but slowly I did.”

 

“Did you regret your decision?” Lance looked back, not surprised seeing his leader’s serious face. Instead, he smiled back.

 

“Nah. I do think about it, but I don’t regret staying. In fact, coming back here sorta makes me feel stronger in the end. I’d tell myself ‘Suck it up Lance. You got this. It’s just one badass mastermind and his croonies to deal with.’ Or something like that. Besides, I do enjoy being a paladin, and aside from Earth I got another family here I want to protect.”

 

“That’s… good. I guess.”

 

Lance chuckles out loud. “Man, you really are bad at this.”

 

“S-Shut it. You almost had me really worried ok. It’s just homesickness, right?”

 

“Right. Just a little sick because of home.”

 

“I’m not so sure that’s how homesickness is accurately defined.”

 

“Hahaha- don’t worry about it mullet.”

 

Lance pats a hand down on Keith’s shoulder. “Thanks for the talk though. Really. It was nice to let it out.”

 

“Of course. Anytime when you need it.”

 

Lance smiles and pats his hand one more time before letting go and passing by Keith. “Come on, let’s head into the kitchen and grab a snack before Hunk arrives and kicks us out.”

 

Keith watched Lance walk to the doorway, and looked back to the pod, hoping that was what Lance worried about.

 

“Keith? You coming dude?”

 

.

.

.

* * *

(Optional Ending B) You may proceed to the next chapter if you wish

* * *

.

.

.

 

“...You do realize Hunk has a good reason for us not to be in the kitchen before dinner, right?” Keith smirks at the red paladin.

 

“Well yeah, but all this serious shit I laid down on you got me wiped out” Lance whines. “C’mon, it’ll be fine. I’ll show you where he hides his cookies.”

 

“Sure” he answers, walking to his direction. “Let’s get one for Pidge as well. They seem to be working hard on their latest invention.”

 

“ _No problemo mi amigo_!”

 

"...Oh, and Lance-"

 

"Yeah?"

 

"You better remember this bonding moment."

 

"...Psssh, whatever."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fin... Maybe...
> 
> Chapter 2/Ending B - starts after the dotted cut - Keith feels it wasn't just the homesickness, but rather about how Lance thinks of himself. More heavily based on Season 3, from episode 6. If you think Keith may have noticed something else, or you just want to continue for your own reasons, do feel free to continue.
> 
> REMEMBER: Ending B IS OPTIONAL


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ending B: You think that Keith may have figured out there's more to Lance due to their talk from Season 3 episode 6, thus he decides to ask the man himself for more.
> 
> More Langst. More insecure Lance. Yelling. Feels.  
> All the feels and bonding!

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**_This isn’t a participation game. This is war, and you want your best soldiers on the front lines._ **

 

_ Right. How could I forget about it… but should I? _

 

“...Keith?” The two stare at each other; Keith felt hesitant about asking, but since it was in his mind anyways…

 

He takes in a deep breathe.  _ Well, it’s now or never I guess. _

 

“Actually,” Keith starts, “there is one more thing I want to talk to you about.”

 

“Hmm?” Lance wonders, he walks back closer to Keith. “What? Do you want some consoling now?”

 

Keith scoffs off the idea - typical of Lance. “As if… Remember when you came to my room, and thought you should, you know, step aside.”

 

“Oh, that…” Another uncomfortable silence sweeps the room with Lance looking away. Keith watches Lance’s grim looking face, hoping he didn’t mess things up.

 

“Quiznak” Keith says to himself, “Hey, look, if you don’t want to talk about it I-”

 

“No, it’s not that. It’s just- I never expected we would actually be talking about it.”

 

Keith sighs. “To be honest, me neither. When you came up to me about your worries, and told me that, it honestly worried me there for a moment.”

 

“Heh- well, it’s not like we’ve ever talked like this before, and it’s  **us** we’re talking about. You know Lance and Keith, neck to neck - always arguing, always fighting even during battles despite being on the same team.”

 

Keith snorts. “Not my fault someone keeps getting on my nerves everyday.”

 

“Yes, fuck you too.”

 

“Lance” Keith calls out. “You’ve really been thinking about it, haven’t you?”

 

Lance stares back at with in awe, having his full, undivided at the serious leader, and lets out a sigh. “Look, man, we’re not unworldly bystanders anymore. Probably since rescuing Shiro and leaving Earth, we became part of this war, and we’re in deeper shit than anyone could ever imagine.”

 

“Of course. That’s what we decided - for Allura and all the planets enslaved by Zarkon on the Galra. I get that, but where are you going with this? We all had a choice to leave, but we stayed. You stayed.”

 

“Yeah, but that’s why… well…”

 

“Well?”

 

“...Ugh, forget it. Just- Just don’t worry about it.”

 

“No Lance. C’mon, you can tell me. I know can’t promise how well I’ll take it, but I’ll do my best to listen your reasons.”

 

Lance continues to stare at Keith for a while and takes in a deep breathe. “Keith, I- I… Oh quiznak, I’ll just say it! If there’s ever a day where you need someone to back down from being a paladin then… then I won’t mind taking the risk myself.”

 

“...What?”

 

“I can’t tell you to forget what I said to you back then. I know why and all, but I also know we had to make some hard choices to where we are now and we still have to in the future. All I’m saying that is that if there ever comes a time in which you, Shiro or Allura have to make choice to sacrifice any one of us to go forward, then I’ll gladly volunteer to do it myself so that none of you have a hard time deciding.”

 

“Lance, there’s no sacrifice to make.”

 

“But there might be! As the current leader of this group, you may have to make that kind of a choice someday!”

 

“Maybe, but we don’t know that yet! If we keep worrying about every single thing then we’ll lose everything ahead of us!”

 

“Pfft, and look where that had got us before! Remember when we first met Zarkon? Or the battle on Taujeer? THAYSERIX?!”

 

Keith grabs Lance by his t-shirt collar and butts his forehead on his as he tries to control his slipping temper. Both of them give each other off vicious, deadly glares at one another. “You talking about me?!” Keith hisses. 

 

“Ha- Who less would make some very shitty decisions there, LEADER?!”

 

“I know what I did was wrong but I had my reasons, and for VERY. GOOD. REASONS.”

 

“Well then, you’re just gonna have to realize now that we can’t always make the FUCKING choices that WE want to make!!!” Lance loudly remarks. Afterwards, he pushes Keith away and turns around but Keith grabs his arm sleeve. 

 

“Where do you think you’re going?”

 

“I’m done talking” he said listlessly. Lance ripped his arm free from Keith’s grip.

 

“Lance. LANCE!” Keith calls out, but Lance didn’t stop. He felt mad - furious at what transpired. Keith tried hard not to explode in Lance’s face, but he had no idea that’s what Lance had ever thought or felt. He could believe Lance leaving for his family, sure, but not for the sake of the team in some unknown problem they had yet to encounter. He thought that Lance was being his stupid self again. He thought this whole argument was stupid! More so-

 

“YOU IDIOT! THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! HAVE EVER THOUGHT THAT NONE OF US WANT YOU TO LEAVE?!”

 

Lance stopped just when he took another step after opening the doors. He steps back and turns around to face a panting Keith with his face hidden by his long bangs.

 

“You… Piece of… Did you think you can just pretend you’re ok being the team’s saint martyr?! If you are, then I’m not looking to have a DYING MAN on the team-”

 

“What?! No, I’m not thinking of dying every-”

 

“THEN YOU’RE OK LEAVING US BEHIND?! YOU’RE OK LEAVING YOUR FAMILY BACK ON EARTH?!”

 

“OF COURSE NOT! AS IF I WOULD BE OK LEAVING LIKE THAT!”

 

“THEN WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE YOU ARE?! WHY ARE YOU SO ADAMANT ON BEING A SACRIFICE?! ARE WE NOTHING TO YOU?!?!”

 

Lance gasps and then looks down to the ground. That was when Keith realized his mistake and gasps as well. 

 

“N-No.” Keith faintly hears. “It not- I mean... I…” 

 

Keith could see Lance’s hands curled up to a fists and how badly he’s shaking. He takes in a deep breath before slowly walking closer to the red paladin. 

 

“Lance, we do care about you. Sure we make fun of you, but everyone’s no more or less an important member of the team.” He stops a few feet away from Lance. “That means you too.”

 

“...I know,” he replies, dropping down into a squat with his head hiding on his legs, “but if means that everyone I love and care for is safe then I don’t mind. I just want to protect all of you just as much as I want to protect the Earth and every other planet.” 

 

Keith drops down to Lance’s level. “I understand that, but that doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice ourselves like King Alfor did. We can find another way.”

 

Lance doesn’t respond, worrying Keith. “Lance, you have to know that we think you’re a great paladin. I think you are. You joke a lot, play with girls alot, always looking for a fight with me, and most often carefree, but well… I mean… it’s not always a bad thing ( _ At least for some of those things _ Keith grumbles). It’s actually thanks to that part of you that we can relax even in some of the more dire situations whether it’s us making fun of you or you cheering in communication line. B-Besides, out of all of us, you do have the best eye coordination and reflexes that makes this team’s number one sharpshooter.”

 

“...I almost had someone die because of me” Lance rebuts, referring to Sven back on the alternate reality. 

 

“Oh” Keith lets out. It was all he could think of at the moment as he scratched his head from the current discomfort. At some point, remembering what Shiro did to him before, he hesitantly puts his hand on Lance’s head and soothes it in slow and quite awkward movements. Keith thought he felt Lance jump in shock for a moment.

 

“If it makes you feel any better, I almost killed at least 7 innocent people, including us… and maybe on multiple occasions for some.”

 

Lance lifted his head up, facing Keith as the black paladin retracts his arm. “Yup, you sure love to give us heart attacks” he remarks.

 

“...Well,” Keith blinks, “At least you’re not crying.”

 

“Cry- ME?! Lance McClain, crying?! AS IF!!!”

 

“Sure you weren’t” Keith smirks at him. Lance turns his head away with a huff. 

 

“But seriously,” Keith starts again, “at least you don’t need someone to tell you to keep calm. You know when to take things seriously and how to look at all other angles of the situation. If it wasn’t for you, then maybe we wouldn’t be here now.”

 

“Hehe, right-”

 

“It’s true! You saved Coran from a bomb despite the injuries you gained, and still saved the day when you shot Sendak with Pidge in his hands. You were able to prevent Hunk, and a lot of other people from being alien food when you two landed in that water planet. You were able to accept switching lions with Allura far better than how I was taking Shiro’s place, and even accepted me after Black chose me when you wanted the position yourself… If it wasn’t for you, I would have screwed up big time and separated the team, stranding us in that awful planet… but rather than continuing to yell at me once I realized what I had done you kept trying to find a solution till Allura found us. I never did get to thank you for that yet.”

 

“Uhh, well…” Lance blushes out of the sudden embarrassment and looks away. “Y-you don’t have to do that.”

 

“Well I do, so… umm……….” Keith lowers his head. His bangs hide his face and Lance’s face as the red paladin looks at him with slight expectations. In a hushed whisper, Keith tells him, “Th-thanks, Lance.”

 

“......Pfft-” Keith finally hears. He looks up, seeing Lance failing to hold himself together for a short while until he let’s out a huge roar of laughter.

 

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA- ‘THANKS’ HE SAYS!!! HAHAHAHA-”

 

“THE FUCK LANCE!!! I WAS TRYING TO BE SINCERE HERE!!!”

 

“Hah~ I know man, I know. It’s just so typical at how you said it.”

 

“Shut up. I know I’m bad at all of these… feelings and stuff.”

 

Lance smiles at his leader and stands up, offering his hand to help Keith up. Keith takes it, and Lance grips his hold stronger but assuring.

 

“Thanks man. I appreciate it.” Lance tells Keith before pulling him into a quick man hug. 

 

“Yeah. Just… stop all of this gloom and sacrifice talk. It ain’t like the Lance McClain that we know of.”

 

“Hey, I’ll have you know that I can be quite the deep and passionate type of man that chicks dig” Lance smoothes out with his finger guns.

 

“Right, like that’s gonna impress anyone” Keith remarks. “How about we just keep this conversation between the two of us instead?”

 

“Deal. Besides, I ain’t casually revealing all of this sweet blackmail to Pidge.”

 

“Lance.”

 

“What? Can’t I? You basically just confessed to me I was your impulse control.”

 

“My what?” 

 

“I, your  _ successful _ right-hand man, make sure you keep the temper on the down-low.”

 

“Pfft” Keith scoffs. “As if I need someone like you to tell me how I act.”

 

“Uh, you said, and I quote: ‘At least you don’t need someone to tell you to keep calm. You know when to take things seriously and how to look at all other angles of the situation.’ Therefore, I am your impulse control.”

 

“Whatever” Keith replies with a sigh. “I'm not the one who was bawling their eyes out awhile ago?”

 

“I so wasn’t bawling your eyes out!”

 

“Ok sure, I guess, but you still cried.”

 

“I! Wasn’t! Crying!”

 

“Uh huh, could have fooled me.” Keith pats Lance’s shoulder and passes by him. “C’mon. Let’s get out of here already.”

 

Lance was left stammering in pieces as he looked back and forth from the door until he admitted defeat of the day with a sigh. He jogs out to Keith in the hallway and walks beside him.

 

“Hey, wanna get something to eat? I'm wiped.”

 

“It’s not dinner time yet.”

 

“No, but we could still grab a snack before Hunk enters the kitchen and kicks us out. Besides, I think we both deserve a little reward. I can show you where Hunk hides the cookies.”

 

“Huh… why not. Let’s grab one for Pidge as well. I saw them working hard on their latest invention.”

 

“ _ No problemo mi amigo!” _

 

“...oh, and Lance-”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“You better remember this bonding moment.”

 

“...Pfft. Whatever.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't like it? Feel like there's more to be improved? OOC much? 
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment below.


End file.
